Lab Renovation Pictures

Five years ago we had a new lab built and since then students and staff have had the benefit of using the fantastic space that it was. This year we have been lucky enough to have the next phase of our renovation undertaken and the larger single space is now becoming several smaller but more specialised spaces. We will post more pictures when it is finished in a few weeks.



If you have any trouble seeing the slideshow above, click here for a link to view the pictures in picasa.

Behind the Scenes

Some of the work that we do in the department often goes unseen and our work with The Workplace Wellbeing Charter is one such area of work. For a year or so, I've been on the steering group for the local Workplace Wellbeing Charter and along with other members of the group have been helping to guide and inform the adoption of a new charter in Plymouth. Delivered by Plymouth Community Health the Charter is designed as an opportunity for employers to consider their commitment to their employee's overall health.


Next month will see the first cycle of employers receive their awards and as with any project it should be a great opportunity to see both the worthy recipients, the staff of those organisations and also the hard working team at Plymouth Community Health that have worked with passion and commitment to help deliver this initiative.

Ben Jane
Senior Lecturer

The impact of social inequality on health

Sir Michael Marmot has a new book out and in yesterday's Guardian there was an article that outlines some of his concerns around the entrenchment of societies inequities and how these impact upon the health of the nation. Individually, we are all responsible for many lifestyle choices but just how much control we actually have is a contentious issue and we can be pretty sure that it isn't as much as we would like to think.


Understanding how much control people have over their lifestyle choices has an impact on our expectations when designing lifestyle interventions and working with patients and clients and increasingly researchers are pointing to the bigger, socio-ecological factors as being the areas that need more attention if we are going to decrease rates of lifestyle related illness.


To read more, see The Health Gap, by Sir Michael Marmot

First Post!!

This is the first post on our new "Health @ Marjon" blog. In addition to the well established undergraduate courses of "Health, Exercise and Physical Activity", "Sports Therapy" and "Rehabilitation", we are re-grouping and developing exciting new courses in the areas of nutrition, biomedical sciences, clinical exercise science and post-graduate courses in public health and sports medicine.
There are already lots of resources for students and fellow professionals in the form of www.benjanefitness.com and on twitter @marjonHEPA but this site is intended to bring together our work across a range of courses and to give us a place where we can highlight all of the behind the scenes work that goes on in our and around our degree courses.
Its hoped that posts will be made by teaching staff, current students, graduates and hopefully some of the colleagues that we alongside from other organisations too.
So for now, if you need any more information please contact us and ask.
Regards,
Ben Jane
Senior Lecturer